In Brief
In this 2022 criminal appeal, the Supreme Court reviewed a High Court acquittal of Subhash @ Pappu for murder and rioting charges. The trial court had convicted him based on a dying declaration by the victim naming him as part of a six-to-seven-person mob attack. The High Court acquitted him because the dying declaration said he hit the victim with a hockey stick, not the knife that caused death. The Supreme Court held that an accused can still be convicted for murder under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC (common object of unlawful assembly) if proven to be part of the assembly, even if his individual role differed from the fatal blow. The Court modified the conviction to Section 304 Part I (culpable homicide) since death occurred 30 days later from septicemia, and upheld conviction for rioting.
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